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Martin McDonaghsHangmenseems like a revival.
But there are also creaks and groans down in the thriller structure itself.
You know this place; the whole thing reeks of stale beer.
Theres a character inHangmenwho is hurt when an accomplice calls him creepy.
Menacing.Not creepy, he insists, creepily, which is McDonagh in a bloodstained nutshell.
This seems to have turned his attention to the publics secret, fascist heart.
I think theres a reason those last names evoke the sea and tide, though.
Their violence ebbs; their violence flows; one compels the other.
Harry Wade is a hangman or he was.
The funniest stuff inHangmencomes from watching pub regulars make a run at slide ingratiatingly under his boot.
Charlie: That was a good one Harry.
Arthur: What were it?
Charlie: Newspaper lad, says, But you must have a comment, Harry.
Harry says, I do have a comment.
Arthur: That were a good one!
He just said same thing first lad said.
Set up, double-back, double-down it works over and over.
But Harry cannot keep himself from commenting.
Then, as the canard goes, a stranger walks into the bar.
Peter Mooney (Alfie Allen) is a breath of swinging London, which the parochial Northerners hate.
The nasty-twisty plot works best in the first half, when its goads are sharpest.
Threlfall has a wonderful behind-the-beat foulness to him.
You know that any time hes a bit confused, cruelty will follow.
(Hes always confused.)
Allen, however, cant keep his side of the see-saw down.
But theres no blade in the scabbard, theres no rock in the glove.
Allen as Mooney hasnt got the gravity, or the menace.
He doesnt even have the creepiness.
Its useful for thinking about the playwright, though.
What does work each time is McDonaghs men-are-clowns joke structure.
Theres something about punters being cruel to each other that lights up his inner Muse.
The plays convictions seem simple: Capital punishment is bad.
Were certainly not in favor of serial murderers.
When you hearHangmenitself using cruelty to joke, your ears prick up.
If the play works correctly, your own next laugh will come more slowly.
Hangmenis at the Golden Theatre.
